In August 2015, North Korea launched a rocket at a border city in South Korea.
South Korea responded with a volley of artillery rounds.
Although the two countries have been enemies since their split in 1945, it is rare for
actual fighting to occur.
Should this attack on South Korea spiral out of control into a full-fledged conflict, we
wanted to know: what would happen if North Korea & South Korea went to war?
Well, technically, the two countries ARE at war, and have been for the last 65 years.
Although the 1950 Korean War saw fighting end with a truce in 1953, no peace treaty
was ever signed.
Over the last decades, the two sides have seen occasional clashes, usually instigated
by North Korea.
The long-lasting stalemate is the result of both countries being militarily powerful,
but for very different reasons.
In terms of armed forces, South Korea has one of the most powerful militaries in the
world, with roughly 3 and a half million available troops.
However, while South Korea has millions of highly trained soldiers, North Korea has the
advantage of being an authoritarian, military-based dictatorship.
The Hermit Kingdom has roughly 5 million available troops, with another 5 million fit for service.
This is due to universal conscription for males that lasts at least ten years.
But troop amount has not been a leading factor since World War One, when the world stopped
relying on wars of attrition and instead turned to air raids and military technology.
Although North Korea also has a massive military manufacturing sector, the vast majority of
their equipment is outdated and unsophisticated.
Meanwhile, South Korea is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the
world, and one of the leading arms manufacturers.
Technologically, the two are incomparable.
South Korea is also considerably wealthier than their Northern neighbors.
Their GDP is 50 times greater that North Korea’s, and they spend roughly four and a half times
as much on defense alone.
And all of this isn’t even mentioning North Korea’s almost totally isolated state of
foreign alliance.
Meanwhile, South Korea enjoys the direct protection of the most powerful military force on earth,
the United States.
They are also a UN member, with the current UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon being of
South Korean descent.
But in the end, despite North Korea’s clear shortcomings against the South, the matter
of largest concern is North Korea’s potential to have developed nuclear weapons.
Considering the region’s instability, should an actual war break out, there is little preventing
Kim Jong-Un from releasing a 7 kiloton bomb, and decimating parts of South Korea.
While South Korea has access to the US’s nuclear arsenal and would likely strike back,
the face of Korea would be changed forever.
In 2009, journalist Laura Ling was detained by North Korea.
The several months of captivity could have made her lose hope — but instead, she found
it through a very simple ritual.
Watch this video to learn more about how she survived
her ordeal.
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